


Falls the Shadow

by yet_intrepid



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Literary References & Allusions, T. S. Eliot - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:50:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/742165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yet_intrepid/pseuds/yet_intrepid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He blinked and the world was dark and shadows were falling between dream and realization, between the republic in their minds and the republic that was to come for France, between all he knew about the potential of humanity for good and the brutality that began in real force around him.</p>
<p>(For Thine is the Kingdom)</p>
<p>But they died in the radiance of a coming dawn, nevertheless. They died that every man should be a king.</p>
<p>-Jehan’s death. Based around the end section of T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.” All quotes are parenthesized.-</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falls the Shadow

(Between the idea  
And the reality  
Between the motion  
And the act  
Falls the Shadow)

Jehan felt, more than heard, the roar of the cannons, as the entire barricade shook, jerking him backwards and sending slivers of wood flying in all directions, several searingly into his body. There was heat and there was wind and there was sharp blood in his mouth and they were the only barricade left and they would not be left long.

He blinked and the world was dark and shadows were falling between dream and realization, between the republic in their minds and the republic that was to come for France, between all he knew about the potential of humanity for good and the brutality that began in real force around him.

(For Thine is the Kingdom)

But they died in the radiance of a coming dawn, nevertheless. They died that every man should be a king.

(Between the conception  
And the creation  
Between the emotion  
And the response)

Despite their shots at the gunners, gunners who had fought with them in 1830, the cannons came. And the people, Jehan thought, the people, sitting in their houses and hearing the explosions, they knew men were about to die but they did not rise.

They had been full of emotion on the day of the funeral but there was no response.

(Falls the Shadow)

And the world was heavy on his shoulders as the charge was sounded and they fell back from the barricade with feathers in their hair. The world, full of death and blood and men slaying their fellows.

(Life is very long)

And he followed Combeferre, stumbling and half-falling on his way as he fought pain and fought the weight of humanity’s sorrow. There was a door, a door behind which lay a haven for him and his friends, and there was a window and eyes at the window but it was closing

(Between the desire  
And the spasm  
Between the potency  
And the existence  
Between the essence  
And the descent)

And it was closed

(Falls the Shadow)

Jehan banged on the door with all his love for all that was right. Please, he whimpered.

(For Thine is the Kingdom)

And far is that kingdom, coming but far

Combeferre and Enjolras pulled him away, and he pulled them, but by the time they were into the café he was on his own and there were the guns and he struggled and brought down a man despite his empty hands and his mind ran through broken thoughts

(For Thine is  
Life is  
For Thine is the)

And one last sound escaped, one last child’s cry, as a final pain and light enveloped his senses.

(This is the way the world ends  
This is the way the world ends  
This is the way the world ends  
Not with a bang but a whimper.)


End file.
